Prime Suspect

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Prime Suspect
DVD Cover for first series
Genre	Police procedural
Starring	Helen Mirren
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of series	7
Production
Producer(s)	ITV Productions
Broadcast
Original channel	ITV1
Original run	1991-04-07 – 2006
Links

Prime Suspect was a highly acclaimed British police procedural television drama series made by Granada Television for the ITV network in the 1990s and 2000s. The screenplays for the first and third serials (and the story for the second) were written by Lynda La Plante, and in 1993 she received an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for her work. The following year, Allan Cubitt's screenplay for Prime Suspect 2 brought the series a second Edgar.

Helen Mirren portrayed hard-bitten female Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) Jane Tennison (later promoted to Detective Superintendent), surviving and thriving in a male-dominated profession. The character was said to be based on Jackie Malton, who acted as an advisor to the authors.

The programme was part of a trend for programmes/films with women both in leading roles and holding senior authority positions. One UK television example is MIT, a spinoff from The Bill on ITV1. The series may have antecedents in such dramas as The Silence of the Lambs (female central character and serial killer plotline) and in The Gentle Touch and Juliet Bravo (UK police procedurals with female leads). There is also a parallel in Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta novels, featuring a female medical examiner, who investigates murders, including serialmurders, and eventually becomes the target of two serial murderers, which results in lethal combat with both.

The first series features sexism in the workplace as a significant subplot and a barrier to the investigation. Sequels have tended to downplay this theme, relying on straight procedure or on other subplots (institutional racism in Prime Suspect 2, work/life balance as a recurring issue, while paedophilia, child abuse, and prostitution are recurring issues in Prime Suspect 3).

Prime Suspect's format is multiple miniseries: each case runs around 3½ hours (excluding commercials) usually aired in two parts. Prime Suspect 4 was an exception at 4½ hours in three semi-separate cases.

The first five series were produced at a steady pace of one every eighteen months, until Helen Mirren left the role to avoid typecasting (according to a PBS interview). She returned to the character after a seven-year gap.

Prime Suspect: The Final Act was an ITV and WGBH co-production. Part one first aired (preview) in the UK on 15 October 2006 and in the U.S. on 12 November 2006 on the PBS program Masterpiece Theatre with Mirren starring opposite Tom Bell, Gary Lewis, Stephen Tompkinson and Laura Greenwood.

[edit] Filmography

Helen Mirren (left) with Laura Greenwood in
Prime Suspect: The Final Act, 2006.

Prime Suspect (1991 UK, 1992 US, 207 min, 2 parts) IMDb Profile
Prime Suspect 2 (1992 UK, 1993 US, 203 min, 4 parts) IMDb Profile
Prime Suspect 3 (1993 UK, 1994 US, 207 min, 2 parts) IMDb Profile
Prime Suspect 4 (1995 UK, 1995 & 1996 US)

The Lost Child (101 min) IMDb Profile

Inner Circles (102 min) IMDb Profile

Scent of Darkness (105 min) IMDb Profile
Prime Suspect 5: Errors of Judgment (1996 UK, 1997 US, 200 min) IMDb Profile
Prime Suspect 6: The Last Witness (2003 UK, 2004 US, 200 min, 2 parts) IMDb Profile
Prime Suspect: The Final Act (2006, ~200 min, 2 parts, ITV & WGBH co-production) IMDb Profile

[edit] Spoof

In 1997 a short spoof episode, Prime Cracker, was produced for the BBC's biennial Red Nose Day charity telethon in aid of Comic Relief. A crossover with ITV stablemate crime drama Cracker, the spoof starred Mirren and Cracker lead Robbie Coltrane as their characters from the respective series, sending-up the perceived ultra seriousness of both shows.